Appointments: Pemra seeks time to file written reply

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Wednesday sought time to file written reply in a petition challenging recent appointments of assistant general managers in the authority.

Justice Sagheer Ahmed Qadri of the LHC’s Rawalpindi bench put off the hearing in the petition of Khalid Mehmood and three others till September 8 after a lawyer appearing on behalf of Pemra sought time to file the comments.

The court, however, did not issue stay order in the case as the lawyer of the petitioners sought injunctive order till the final disposal of the petition. The court observed that without hearing Pemra stay order could not be issued.

The four petitioners all holding different posts in the authority have cited Pemra chairman, its director general (HR) Shahzad Nawaz Cheema, its general manager (HR) Sardar Rehman and 34 selected candidates as respondents.

The petitioners through their lawyer Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Naqvi maintained that the authority announced to appoint 18 assistant general managers, 10 were technical and eight non-technical, but selected 60 candidates.

The petitioners said they applied for the posts and appeared in the test on December 30, 2009 and were selected for the interview and appeared on August 13 2010 and on the same day 40 candidates were declared successful.

On the same day the Pemra authorities issued new lists of the successful candidates including Mohsin Hameed Dogar son of former chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and yet another office order showed four other candidates as successful.

The petitioners said when they further probed they found many appointees having no required qualifications for the posts and even some of them were unable to get through the written test.

The Pemra employees in their petition also alleged that majority of the appointments had been made on political basis.

The petitioners citing different court laws and decisions have prayed the LHC to undo the appointments and declare them illegal and in violation of rules.
Source: Dawn
Date:9/2/2010